December 7, 2017

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Apple reveals the iTunes ‘Best of 2017’ lists for apps, music, and more

by John_A

Roughly a week after Google revealed the Android Play Store’s top apps of the year, Apple has done the same, showcasing which of this year’s most popular apps, music, movies, podcasts, and books have topped iOS users’ lists.

Just as we saw with the Play Store’s movie list, Disney has had a monster of a year, with Moana topping the movie charts. But that wasn’t all for the House of Mouse, with Disney claiming a full half of the top ten with five of its movies being listed, including Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Rogue One, and Spider-Man: Homecoming. Wonder Woman also claimed a spot for DC, with a respectable third place, and animated hit Sing sneaks into the top five as a solid fourth. But it’s not all about the movies; throughout the year, iTunes has pushed for more 4K HDR content on its service, and most of the top films in the list are now available in stunning 4K HDR, as well as holiday hits like Harry Potter, Home Alone, Office Christmas Party and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

It’s also been a huge year for apps on iTunes. Apple has noticed four big trends in apps for the year, including the rise of augmented reality (AR) apps like Ikea Place, the increased popularity of real-time competitive gaming in games like Clash Royale and Hearthstone, apps like Hooked and Choice changing how we read, and a rise in awareness of mental health, which led to guided meditation app Calm being awarded 2017’s iPhone app of the year award.

We’re also seeing some more familiar faces in the top TV shows category, with Games of Thrones and The Walking Dead topping the list, followed closely by The Big Bang Theory and Rick & Morty. However, there were some fresh faces in the list, with Big Little Lies, Victoria, This Is Us, and The Americans introducing new names to the list.

In music, two names reign supreme with Drake’s More Life and Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You taking the awards for top album and top song, respectively. Despite only releasing November 10, Taylor Swift’s new album Reputation has already shot up to third place, hinting TSwift’s new album has even more success to come.

Fresh Air continues to dominate the iTunes’ podcast chart, but 2017 has also seen a rise in daily news podcasts, with podcasts like The New York Times’s The Daily and Up First from NPR jumping into the most downloaded list.

Again, and similarly to how we saw books with adaptations dominating the Play Store books chart, we also see The Handmaid’s Tale, IT, and Thirteen Reasons Why enter into the iTunes’ iBooks chart, though it’s clear these books weren’t as popular with iOS readers as they were with Android users, with Camino Island by John Grisham beating The Handmaid’s Tale to the top spot, and Dan Brown’s Origin taking third place. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck rears its head in the non-fiction chart, after failing to beat Hillbilly Elegy to the number one spot — though Subtle Art did get to the top of the audiobook chart.

Finally, iTunes U saw a bumper year, with computer science courses being amongst the most popular, with the top three apps focusing on learning to code and developing apps — certainly a handy thing for iTunes to teach users.

You can check out Apple’s newsroom release for its take on the charts, and we’ve listed some of the most popular charts below for your delectation. While you’re at it, we also have our lists of the best iPhone apps and the best iPhone games as well.